


Wish & Sadness

by Echo (sealingdesigneejosephine)



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Conspiracy, Family Issues, Friendship is Magic, Gen, High School AU, Hurt/Comfort, Modern AU, Murder Mystery, Music AU, ages messed around with, and then it snowballed into something else entirely, i don't know what i'm doing anymore, it started off as a cute and fluffy k-on au, kidnapping ring, kids that think they are detectives putting themselves in danger, this was meant to be a oneshot, title from OST, various modern/pop culture references, youtube is a thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-06-03 14:04:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6613489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sealingdesigneejosephine/pseuds/Echo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[What started off as a short, cute K-On! AU is now something else entirely. Joy.]</p><p>Luke fon Fabre is nervous about entering high school. After an incident seven years ago, life and the world for him and his family changed, and he doesn't know if he's ready for such a big step. As his first year begins and Summer ends, another paradigm shift is coming.</p><p> <a href="http://memoriesofpurelight.tumblr.com">|Tumblr|</a></p><p> <a href="http://twitter.com/lyrecho">|Twitter|</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A tall building stretched wide and imposing across the plane of Luke fon Fabre's vision.

He gulped, and shuffled slightly to the left, to make it easier to cling to his brother.

Attached to him, his older twin brother Asch stood stiffly, with gritted teeth and a tick in his forehead.

"Get off of me," Asch commanded, shaking his arm in an attempt to shake Luke loose. " _Now._ "

Luke whined, and cast a pleading gaze upwards, trying to appeal to whatever big brother instincts Asch may have, buried deep, _deep_ inside. " _No,_ " he wailed. "Asch, I'm scared." He buried his face into Asch's shoulder. "I don't want to go to high school," he whispered mournfully.

"And that's not my damn problem, you worthless-" Asch, cheeks flaming from what was probably a mix of both anger and embarrassment, casting furtive glances around the entranceway of the school they were standing in, began to yell, but was cut-off by the timely arrival of someone who annoyed him far more than his little brother did.

"Luke♥!" With all the force of a small steam train, Guy Cecil ploughed into Luke, and by extension, Luke's older brother who still could not shake his younger counterpart off of him. Guy blinked from where he had tackle-glomped Luke to the ground, and noticed Asch beside them. "Oh. Hi, Asch." Whereas Asch's greeting from Guy was nowhere near as warm as the one he had given Luke, it was no less... _sparkly_ , and Asch shuddered as he finally managed to tug his arm loose from Luke's vice like grip and swiftly scrambled to his feet (out of grabbing distance).

Still trapped under Guy, who showed no signs of moving anytime soon and was basically just having the best day of his life, apparently, jubilant over the fact that his favourite underclassman was now a student at the same school he was, Luke cast a mournful look his brother's way.

" _Asch_ ," he begged. "Don't leave me alone!"

Asch scoffed, and turned away from the pathetic sight. "I'm going to go and check the class postings," he snapped. "Hopefully the teachers here won't lump me in the same class as _you_ , as always." Sometimes, Asch really hated the common misconception that twins must be joined at the hips or something, because there was pretty much _nowhere on Earth or the entire goddamn universe_ that he'd rather be than _away_ from his brother.

-x-

Luke couldn't help it (though he would deny it later, _even under torture_ ) - he sniffled a little as Asch walked away, leaving him alone to wander the new and strange territory of Daath's largest academy (for secondary learning), Yulia High.

"Aw, Luke, don't be sad." Guy smiled at him, blue eyes understanding. "It's really not that bad here, you know."

Luke wanted to protest, but didn't, knowing that Guy was actually right, and he was being kind of silly. "I'm alone here," he pushed Guy off of him and sat up on the slightly damp grass out the front of the school, pulling his knees up against his chest and staring at the ground as he tugged out strand of grass moodily, arms looped around his legs. "Tear won't be coming here 'til next year, Anise and Ion are even younger than that, so the only people I know here are Asch, you, and cousin Natalia, and you're graduating this year and Asch and Natalia _hate_ me-" he trailed off, burying his face in his knees and trying to force down the lump in his throat, the burning in his eyes.

 _Don't cry_ , he told himself. _Do_ not _cry_. If anyone caught him crying in the entranceway on the first day of school, not only would he never live it down, Asch would kill him - his little brother may have been pathetic, after all, but that didn't mean he was allowed to let _other people_ know it.

Guy sat up too, and completely uncaring of the grass stains he was probably getting all over the seat of his pants, scuttled backward so he and the redhead were sitting side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and slung one arm around Luke, pulling him into a gentle side-hug.

"Hey," he said softly, nudging Luke with his shoulder until the younger boy pulled his head up and looked at him with red rimmed eyes. "Asch and Natalia don't hate you," he chided Luke gently, smiling at him so he could see his sincerity. "They just don't-"

"-just don't know me, right, I got it," Luke spat out bitterly, voice full of a harsh, self-deprecating venom.

Guy swallowed. The truth was, he'd _never_ liked the Fabre family. The head of the family, Luke and Asch's father Crimson, had brought his family to bankruptcy years ago, and then bought up the majority shares of the Gardios family company, before bringing it back from the brink of death. The only reason Guy had suffered any relation or interaction with the family after his family's death was that Crimson, somehow, was in charge of his trust until he came of age - meaning Crimson fon Fabre was, effectively, his legal guardian.

But around the time Guy had become a permanent resident in the household, something happened to the youngest of the two twin boys that had avoided Guy like the plague as the grieving and moody teenager did his best to make everyone in the house as miserable as he was. Both had gone missing from school one Sylphday afternoon, and the lady of the house, probably the only member of the family that Guy had actually liked at that point, had been hysterical until they turned up in the local police station Remday morning, no worse for the wear except for a few things - they were hungry, tired, and, oh yeah, Luke _couldn't remember a single thing_.

At first they had thought he was just traumatised, catatonic - enough to worry, to go to the hospital like they would have anyway, but not enough to panic. Alongside Crimson and Suzanne, Guy had been dragged to the hospital to stand vigil a the doctors checked over the two younger boys (Crimson didn't trust him enough to leave him home alone, thought he would try to run away. Truthfully, he wasn't wrong). Asch had been given a clean bill of health, nothing physically wrong with him that some proper food and sleep wouldn't fix, though the doctor in charge of his examination did recommend getting him some psychological help as he was showing signs of trauma, which really wasn't unexpected.

It had been as Suzanne, clutching a pale and unarguing Asch to her, began to discuss specialists with the doctor, that the second doctor, the one that had been looking over Luke, had walked speedily down the hall, an almost march to her step, before pausing beside her co-worker and whispering something in his ear.

The male doctor paled, and broke of his conversation with Suzanne.

 _'Are you sure?'_ Guy remembered hearing. The lady doctor had simply nodded grimly in response.

And that was when a little part of the world ended for the Fabre family. Luke had no memories - none at all. He couldn't walk, couldn't talk, was essentially an infant in the body of a child.

The doctors had to have thrown around about a dozen different theories - cranial damage that wasn't showing up in the scans, the effect of some sort of overdose, a stroke that they couldn't detect, Luke had been somewhere on the autistic scale before the kidnapping and it had triggered something abhorrent, he'd somehow willingly wiped his entire mind clean - each as unlikely as the last. They may as well have thrown their arms up and gibbered 'aliens' because that was about the extent of what they knew or could figure out. Eventually, the Fabre family had to face facts: Luke would have to be raised from 'infancy' once again.

He'd learnt fast, very fast, the more mature mental faculties of his body to his infant mind absorbing and understanding incredibly quickly once he got language down (though that did take nearly two years), and Guy, for the most part, had taught him a lot of what he knew - Crimson once again busy and distant with business; Suzanne as weak as ever, various illnesses coming and going; Asch...bitter and hard since whatever it was that had happened, open only to Natalia (and his mother, on occasions), refusing to talk to Guy (which Guy was just _fine_ with) and ignoring Luke at best, outright abusing him at worse. Guy had always been sure to step in whenever things got physical, but Asch held a vicious resentment for his younger twin that honestly frightened Guy at times.

It had been seven years since the kidnapping, and Luke was probably the only seven year old in the world to be attending high school. He'd worked hard to catch up to where a boy his physical age should be, and was proud (as he should be) of what he'd achieved (even if he wasn't the highest ranked in his classes, he was actually _in_ the rankings, and certainly not at the bottom of them).

But since he'd managed to gain a place among his physical peers, three years ago, he'd been consistently placed with Asch in all classes, teachers probably thinking they were 'helping.' Maybe showing his actual age, his mental age, almost all of Luke's friends were younger than he was, and when he was invited to hang out with classmates, it rarely went well - for all his maturity, and for how well he could actually fake being the age he supposedly was, sometimes it was incredibly clear that Luke was functionally only seven years old, rather than fourteen.

Asch and Luke had been close before the kidnapping incident, and he and Natalia had had a friendly rivalry revolving around Asch's attention, but since Luke had forgotten everything and regressed seven years, rather than trying to get to know and befriend the person Luke was now, they'd kept trying to bring the old Luke back, until seemingly they'd just given up.

So, Guy was right. Natalia and Asch didn't _hate_ Luke, any more than you could hate a familiar stranger walking by you on the street. They just didn't know Luke, found it too painful to try and know Luke - and in the end, it was _Luke_ who was suffering for it.

"I'm sure you'll make more friends fast," Guy reassured him with a smile, tugging the collars of Luke's new blazer (slightly too large for him in the shoulders and the arms, sleeves falling to the very tips of his fingers) straight. "Look at how quickly you and Ion got on."

Luke was quiet for a moment, maybe considering the legitimacy of Guy's words. Then, "What do you think Asch will do?"

"Eh?" Guy blinked, and tried to figure out a tactful way of saying that all of Asch's friends (few in number as they were) would be in the same grade as the two brothers, though Luke likely already knew that - at least, he _should_ , maybe the stress was making it hard for him to think clearly.

"I meant what club do you think he'll join," Luke smiled quietly (bitterly). "We'll be in the same class, I know it, we always are. If I can avoid him by joining a different club..." Luke trailed off, looking at his faithful upperclassman with hopeful eyes.

Guy wasn't too sure what to think of this. On the one hand, it kept Luke away from Asch for more than was absolutely necessary, which was always a good thing, as Asch's already short fused burnt out almost supernaturally fast the longer the elder was kept in the younger's continued presence. On the other hand, it was avoidance, which he was pretty sure _wasn't_ a good thing. Face problems head on, grab danger by the horns and ride it into the sunset, and all that inspirational jazz.

In the end, the desire to see Luke happy and the school intact won out over any concern given to a 'healthy' mental state. Probably bad of him, but he'd take happy and stable over healthy any day. Jade was _definitely_ certifiable, after all, but he was dealing with life just fine. If Luke couldn't beat out what remained of Jade's questionable sanity (if he'd ever actually had any, which was doubtful), then the world was already doomed and there was nothing Guy could do about it.

"He'll probably become a Knight," Guy nodded cheerfully, humming in thought as he stood and brushed grass off of his back and legs. "Seems like an Asch thing to do, don't you think?"

"Um," Luke tentatively grasped the hand Guy offered and stumbled to his feet, not bothering to brush off his pants. He didn't care about a little bit of grass, and unlike Guy, he hadn't managed to stain green all over the material of his uniform. "A Knight?"

Guy rolled his eyes as they began to stroll towards the school's open doors. "Didn't you read the information packet, Luke?" he sent the younger boy a smile so he knew that the teasing was all in good spirit. "Even if it didn't have a comprehensive list of all the clubs, it should've mentioned the school's nationally ranked fencing team." He ducked swiftly around a large group of girls whose colours revealed they were in the year under him, as they moved down the wide entrance hall in a giggling swarm as girls are wont to do. Seriously, he swore that the moment his phobia was discovered in his first year, it had been a school wide bet to see who can make him crack. Large groups of girls came at him _every day_ like random encounters in a video game, except with homing ability. Random snipers.

Waiting patiently for Guy to recover from his brush with near-girl, only slightly better than near-death, Luke's eyes shone with delight. "Fencing? Asch?"

Guy could very clearly picture what his younger friend was imagining, and couldn't help but also grin in response. Asch, in fencing whites. Asch, wielding a foil. Asch, performing fencing techniques - riposte, prise de fir. Asch, _lunging_. Lunging in _fencing whites_.

The moment their eyes met, the two of them were doomed. Luke was already giggling quietly to himself, and when he saw the almost braindead look on Guy's face he absolutely lost it, the blonde not far behind.

"What are you two idiots doing?" Asch, scowling, arrived on the scene.

This, of course, served no other point than making them laugh harder.

"Right, whatever," Asch said. "Dreck, you're in class 1-C."

There was something about the way Asch had said that, something smug to the lines of his body... Luke's giggles died out, and he straightened up. "What do you mean?" A chill of a sort of fear flashed through him. "What class are you in?"

"1-A," Asch answered, and there was no mistaking the triumph in his eyes or the happiness in his voice. Luke, for his part, didn't know how to feel. It wasn't like he and Asch were _friends_ \- they barely felt like brothers at times - but at least they knew each other. They weren't strangers, not like everyone else in this class would be.

"Oi, Dreck, pay attention," Asch snapped out, folding his arms and Luke's gaze snapped back to his brother. By Luke's side, Guy had fallen serious and silent and was staring fixatedly at Asch as he spoke. "Just because we're not in the same class, doesn't mean you can slack off. It'll look bad. So don't be late, especially not on the first day." His piece said, Asch turned to leave, presumably to head to his class, where all other first years students that would be his classmates would probably be gathering before the opening ceremony.

"Wait, Asch!" Luke cried out, taking a faltering step towards his brothers retreating back. Asch didn't turn, didn't verbally acknowledge that he'd heard Luke's words in any way, but he _did_ pause.

"Um," Luke said. "Why did you - why did you come to tell me what class I was in?" He fiddled with his hands, twisting his too long sleeves as they brushed together.

"Tch," Asch snorted. "Don't get the wrong idea. It's not like I did this to help you or anything. I just don't want you to be late because you couldn't find your class. It would be an embarrassment."

"Right," there was a bright smile on Luke's face. "See you at the opening ceremony?"

Asch snorted and kept walking down the hall.

Guy stared at his back in mild surprise. Maybe there was hope for him, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- When I said K-ON! AU, I meant that Luke joined the light music club, apparently. All jokes aside, this was originally going to be an actual K-ON! story, with Abyss characters. Then my need for plot and my weird masochistic love for angst came and kicked my right up the butt, and K-ON! fell by the wayside. Hopefully there's still humour in this, I did try *is just not a very funny person* but my writing style (flowery as it is) doesn't really lend itself to jokes or wit. Or proper grammar.
> 
> \- What inspired this was a picture I saw on tumblr of Asch and Luke in their Viscount uniforms, drawn K-ON! style by assortedpencils for ladyusada. That is literally the whole reason I wrote this.
> 
> \- Obviously, character relations/lore/backstory/everything in this was adapted for a semi-modern AU.
> 
> \- If Asch had been a character in your typical anime, he definitely would have been a tsundere, no doubt about it. That said, his characterisation in this isn't tsundere, per se. I just felt that this needed to be noted.
> 
> \- A little bit of this was probably actually inspired by a douijn, truthfully - the artist was Uehara, the circle was MSC, the doujin itself was titled 'First Days,' I think. English version available on not about logic.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what I'm doing with my life anymore.

"- and now, please welcome the student representative of the entering class."

A polite smattering of applause filled the room, half-heartedly trailing off as Asch stepped up to take the headmaster's place at the podium. Clearing his throat, Asch pulled out a sheet of paper that Luke knew he'd been scribbling corrections on and agonising over for at least a week, since the letter saying that his grades and extracurricular activities had landed him the class's representative on the student council.

Tuning out his brother's words as he began to speak, Luke smiled happily at how confident Asch looked on the raised platform at the front of the school's auditorium. Behind him, the council representatives of the other grades stood in descending seniority, with the oldest, the student council president from the graduating class, at the front.

As Asch's voice droned on, Luke took the opportunity to have a good look around him, gaze roving curiously over the students that surrounded him in uniform rows. He was, of course, surrounded by his own age group - Guy would be somewhere up the back with the rest of the graduating class, Natalia would be somewhere in the class behind and above his, being a year older, and Asch, the one person he knew his own age, was on the stage - and he knew almost none of the people sitting by his side.

A few familiar faces appeared - Asch's friends, others he recognised by face only, having seen them roam the halls of the school he'd come to before this. There was a bunch of new ones, too, kids from other schools - one that really stood out was a girl with pink hair and a _liger_ seated by her.

Luke blinked, just to make sure he hadn't seen something entirely wrong - but, nope, that was definitely a liger.

 _Wow,_ he thought, and wondered what class she was in.

Applause broke out once again, and belatedly Luke realised Asch must have finished speaking. Feeling slightly guilty over completely ignoring his brother and disregarding his speech, Luke threw a little extra enthusiasm into his clapping. As the entering class, Luke's age group was positioned right by the stage, and going by the scowl Asch sent in his general direction as he stalked over to stand by his fellow student representatives (he was squinting slightly due to the stage lights), Luke figured that Asch had picked up on that, and disapproved.

Luke grinned. Asch couldn't make a big deal about it since he had an image to upkeep. If it wasn't for the fact that he thought the teachers would disapprove, too, Luke would have stood up and started cheering, maybe whistle a bit. Guy totally would've backed him up, and even if Natalia wasn't his biggest fan, she would do anything if she thought it was for Asch's sake, and she was oblivious enough about some things to not even realise it would embarrass him. And Asch, after all, could never truly be mad at Natalia, at least not in Luke's experience.

Dammit, he should've done it anyway. He would've caught hell for it later, once they got home, but it would have been so worth it.

The students were filing out of the auditorium in order of seniority, and Luke craned his neck, hoping to catch a glimpse of blonde hair. He caught two - Guy, who sent a wink his way; Natalia, who gave him a short nod of acknowledgement. Luke didn't hold her brusqueness against her: Natalia had been like that for as long as he could remember, incredibly competent and savvy one second, the very definition of socially awkward the next. He nodded back at Natalia so she knew he wasn't ignoring her (she'd be ranting at him for _days_ if he didn't), and gave Guy a smile and an energetic wave, kneeling backwards on his seat so his arms rose above the rest of the crowd.

On the back of his head, Luke could feel an intense, heated gaze boring into him, and could all but hear Asch grinding his teeth. He chose to ignore the clear command to _sit your ass down, dreck_ that he knew Asch knew he could sense, and shoved the small flicker of concern for his brother that rose up right back down. It wasn't like he was doing anything _wrong_ \- if Asch chose to sweat the smallest of things, that was none of his business.

But, not wanting to cause his brother an aneurysm, the moment Guy was out of sight and out of the doors of the auditorium, Luke slumped back down in his seat, swinging his feet to hit the ground.

After the fourth years had filed out, the third years began to rise automatically, rank and file walking out in a bizarrely orderly fashion for a bunch of excited teenagers. With almost half the total mass of people having exited the auditorium, leaving a vast spread of empty space, the remaining students began to grow restless, an eager sort of energy taking over the two junior grades. Rather than simply sitting and waiting patiently for their turn to leave, students began to move down the aisles of the seats, turning to friends and chattering noisily.

"Kyaah!" A yelping noise came from Luke's left, and he automatically glanced over. The pink haired girl he'd noticed before, the one with the liger - she was the one that had emitted the sound. Whereas before she had been sitting quite still and proper, back straight and facing forwards, she was now pressed right back into her chair as far as she could go, legs curled up beneath her and her face broadcasting panic, her liger growling at the foot of her chair as she all but cowered.

Frowning, Luke stood and began to shove his way through gaps in the crowd, and stilled as he stood before the girl, her liger's hackles raising even further as its attention focused on him.

"Hey," he said. "Are you okay?"

The girl flinched slightly, her head turning vaguely upwards in his direction, and Luke took in her narrowed eyes - she was _blind_.

He glanced down at the liger with new, appraising eyes. A seeing-eye liger?

"Who are you?" She asked suspiciously. "What do you want?" Her voice made her seem younger than she likely was, being in the same grade as Luke.

"I'm Luke, and I want to help," he smiled at her, even though she couldn't see it. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she snapped. "Someone just stepped on my foot. It surprised me. Leave me alone.'

Luke tilted his head, considering. "What class are you in?"

"1-C," the girl answered hesitantly. " _Now_ will you leave me alone?"

Instead, Luke shifted around her liger, still growling, and planted himself into the seat beside the girl. "What's your name?"

"Arietta," she said, and Luke noticed that for all she wanted him to go away, she was quite willing to answer his questions. "And that's Sync's seat."

Luke blinked - the name Sync sounded familiar, and he was fairly certain that this seat next to her had been empty for the entire assembly - but told her, "if he comes back I'll move." A crossing and uncrossing of his arms, a rub of one hand against the back of his neck. "Is he in 1-C, too?"

Arietta shook her head, still facing forwards, one hand clenched tight (knuckles white) in the ruff of her liger's fur. "He's in 1-B." She shifted in her seat. "Um... what about you?"

"1-C, like you," Luke answered easily. "Hey, I think we're moving."

Arietta stiffened. "Sync should be back by now," she said. "He said he'd help me out of the auditorium."

Yes, that would be difficult, Luke considered. Even if the liger could act as Arietta's eyes, it was still a fairly _small_ liger, and in a crowd like this very few people would be staring at the ground (and therefore the animals on it) as they tried to shove their way into open air and freedom. Like that, there was a high chance that Arietta would get pushed around, even if only entirely on accident.

"I could help you, if you want," Luke offered openly. "We're in the same class and everything."

Arietta bit her lip. "But Sync-"

"Did he say where he was going?" Luke scanned the crowd, watching as the auditorium emptied to just a few stragglers and faculty.

"No," Arietta said. "But when he left he said he'd be back in time to help me."

"He _left_?" Luke muttered, bewildered. "Where'd he leave to? And, uh, we should probably think about moving," he added, noting the way some teachers were sending glances their way.

"Yes, you really should."

Luke flinched, and whirled in his seat to see Natalia _looming_ over him, a slight frown on her face as she crossed her arms with a _hmph_. Next to him, Arietta squeaked faintly as she startled at his quick movement, which had rocked the entire row of chairs they were on.

"Get to class, Luke," Natalia scowled. "It wouldn't do for you to be late on the first day, you know."

 _It wouldn't do for Asch,_ Luke thought, somewhat mutinously.

But Natalia's scowl deepened, and showing that bizarre skill of hers that was as unpredictable as a summer sun-shower, seemed to know just exactly what was thinking. "For _you_ , you idiot," she snapped, huffing as she leant over him, so that their noses were almost touching. "First impressions last the longest, and do you _want_ your teacher to think you constantly tardy?"

Luke could have, at that point, pointed out that he _was_ constantly tardy, but reasoning with Natalia was like trying to reason with a rock. In fact, reasoning with a rock might just be easier - given enough time and pressure, even stone would eventually give. Not Natalia.

"Okay, okay," he said, before sending her a pointed look. "Could you maybe back up a bit now? Please?"

A vivid red painted its way across Natalia's cheeks as she realised just how close she was to Luke. "Just go to class!" she called out as she made a break for it, all but running for the open doors.


End file.
